Business Orchestration

Digital convergence is redefining industries, and putting information, knowledge and collaboration at the heart of strategic leadership and management. In the face of such change it is those leaders who can ‘orchestrate’ a complex network of employees, customers and suppliers in a single ongoing learning experience that will succeed. Exploring four learning roles for customers (information acquirer; explorer; performer; inventor) and orchestrators (conductor; architect; auctioneer; promoter), Business Orchestration provides a strategic view of how to harness digital convergence by mobilizing and integrating the resources of other companies to create business value.

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xv

Part I: Conditions for Prime Movership

1 Value-creating Capabilities 7

The Anatomy of Value Creation 12

The Offering: the Case of an Auction House 20

Operational Capabilities 24

2 Focus on Learning 31

Digital Convergence and Learning 34

Learning in Communities 39

The Impact of Digital Convergence on Offerings and Capabilities 43

Learning Contexts 47

The Nature of Creative Work 53

3 Orchestrating Leadership 59

Alternative Orchestration Strategies 65

Orchestrating Leaders 71

The Orchestration Arena 79

Part II: Learning Contexts

4 Information Acquisition 89

Securing Seamless Information Transmission 95

Recouping Investments by Shifting Focus from Consumers to Carriers 101

Leadership Implications – The Value of an Orchestration Platform 106

5 Problem Solving 111

Leadership Implications – Institutionalizing Collective Regional Knowledge Building 120

6 Co-experiencing 125

Composing, Orchestrating, and Contemplating 134

Leadership Implications – Experience Provision as a Tool to Drive Change 136

7 Insight Accumulation 141

The Central Tenets of the Linux Philosophy – Sharing Information and Having Fun 145

Leadership Implications – Learning-Based Customer Segmentation 150

8 Transitional Objects 155

Supporting Learning with Transitional Objects 157

Information Acquisition and Transitional Objects 159

Problem Solving and Transitional Objects 161

Co-Experiencing and Transitional Objects 163

Insight Accumulation and Transitional Objects 164

Appropriate Transitional Objects in Different Learning Contexts 166

Part III: Building Capabilities

9 Core Resources 173

Excellence in Execution – Building a Superior Supply Chain Strategy 175

The Influence of Digital Convergence on the Cell-Phone Market 179

Who Will Own the Customer? 182

Leadership Implications – Industry Mapping 187

10 Offering Concepts 191

Leadership Implications – Balancing Efficiency and Creativity 202

11 Customer Interactions 207

A Historical Preview of Customer Communities 211

Embodied Values as Nurturers of Customer Communities 217

Leadership Implications – Co-Aligning the Strategy with Major Customers 223

12 Value Constellations 227

The Evolving Nature of Communities 238

Ethos – the Glue of a Resource Community 240

Leadership Implications – Building New Value Constellations 243

13 the Iocc Framework 247

The IOCC Framework 255

Part IV: the Leader as Orchestrator

14 the Leader as Conductor 265

Conducting an Orchestra: Instilling Disciplined Creativity 266

Orchestrating Based on Power or Knowledge? 273

The Game Plan 278

15 the Leader as Architect 281

Architecture Shaping its Environment 288

Operational Architecture 289

16 the Leader as Auctioneer 299

Information Architecture 310

17 the Leader as Promoter 315

Social Architecture 323

The Orchestration Architecture 324

18 Thriving, Aware, and Engaging 331

Characterizing an Orchestrator 344

Epilogue 355

The Business Idea 355

The Business Leader as Statesman 357

Orchestration and the World of People 359

Notes 365

References 375

Index 385

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOHAN WALLIN, who started his career as a marketing executive, is now managing partner of Synocus Group, an international consulting company with offices in Helsinki, Shanghai and New York. He co-authored the book Prime Movers with Professor Rafael Ramírez in 2000, and has published a number of articles on customer orientation and capability building.

Dr Wallin has been an advisor to companies such as ABB, Canon, Nokia, Nordea, Sandvik, TeliaSonera, Tetra-Pak, and UPM-Kymmene, as well as leading public service organizations.

Business Orchestration is continuously discussed within its own forum: www.businessorchestration.com

Today’s business world places great emphasis on capabilities. Yet what is often overlooked is that capabilities are only built if individuals acquire new skills, and this requires leadership to motivate them to actively learn for the benefit of the organization. A focus on capabilities therefore automatically implies a focus on the individual, and on how to nurture creativity in the extended enterprise. When learning is combined with value creation we call it Business Orchestration.

Into this melting pot we may now add digital convergence – the real-time availability of information via technological platforms. As convergence redefines entire industries, using its power for continuous learning becomes the new lifeblood of business – and collaboration the beating heart of strategic leadership and management. The new role of the leader in the era of digital convergence is thus to provide the incentives and contexts that enable Business Orchestration.

The leaders of tomorrow will be those who can orchestrate a complex network of employees, customers and suppliers in a single ongoing learning experience within the extended enterprise. Exploring four learning contexts and illustrating them with cases of well-known leaders including Meg Whitman, Pertti Korhonen, Linus Torvalds and Steve Jobs, Johan Wallin provides a strategic view of how to harness convergence by mobilizing and integrating the resources of customers and partners to create sustainable business value – Business Orchestration.